A Scandalous Secret Read Online Free Page A

to tell me about Hannah, or will you make me resort to asking her?”
    “To what end?”
    Caroline shrugged. “I don’t like secrets being kept from me. Drives me a bit mad.”
    “Heaven forbid you go mad.” Chet chuckled despite himself. “Honestly, Caro, there’s not much to tell. She was a fresh-faced lass just come to London when I met her. I was at some ball, I don’t even know where. There were hordes of us gathered around Bethany Greywood, all clamoring for her attention. And I said something that compared her to Helen of Troy—”
    Caroline rolled her eyes and smirked at that, which caused Chet to grudgingly smile himself. “Go ahead and laugh. Hannah did. That’s when I first noticed her. She’d been standing with Bethany the entire time, I just hadn’t seen her.”
    “Other women are always invisible in Bethany’s wake.”
    That was probably true, though he hadn’t thought about it before. “Anyway, this pretty blonde informed me in her enchanting brogue that Helen of Troy was not a brunette, and I really should get my facts straight before I threw out compliments that didn’t make any sense.”
    Caroline did laugh then. “She didn’t? Did anyone hear?”
    Chet snorted. “Only the entire room. I hauled her out on the dance floor just to shut her up. And then she proceeded to tell me that I was wasting my time with Miss Greywood. That any fool could see she only had eyes for James MacFadyn.”
    With an understanding nod, Caroline smiled. “She still does.”
    “Yes, well, we men are foolish creatures. We see a pretty face and our minds stop thinking rationally.”
    “Hannah is quite lovely herself,” Caroline prodded softly.
    “Captivating.” Chet sat motionless, lost in his memories. He could see Hannah’s twinkling blue eyes looking at him, laughing with him, promising him everything. He remembered how kissing her had always reduced him to mindless idiot. And then the rest came flooding back, holding her gloriously naked body against his…
    He shook his head. Those memories were too painful to dwell on.
    Caroline stared at him with concern etched in her inquisitive hazel eyes. “What happened?”
    Everything . Though he loved Caroline like a sister, there were some things he wouldn’t ever tell her or anyone else. So the general brushstrokes would have to do. “I fell completely in love with her.”
    “Indeed?”
    Chet shrugged. “Of course, Harold didn’t approve at all.”
    Caroline furrowed her brow. “Your brother was still alive at the time?”
    “Aye, Harold was Astwick. He was wholly unimpressed with Hannah. She was…different. You know how things are. It was the same then, the Town was awash with young girls all trying to say the right thing, do the right thing. Nothing over the top, or they’d never entrap some unsuspecting sap into marriage.”
    Caroline smacked his hand. “Hardly, a woman’s view of things.”
    He smiled despite himself. “But that was never Hannah. She never pretended to be something she wasn’t. She was honest and open, and Harold hated that. Said she was no better than the unwashed denizens.”
    “Not very flattering.”
    Chet shook his head. “That was Harold. You never knew him, but Robert could tell you stories, I’m sure.”
    Caroline’s frown deepened, as though she was putting pieces of a puzzle together. “Hmm. So you ended things with Hannah because of Harold?”
    Hardly. “No, I paid him no attention. Every thought I had was of her. She saw the world in a completely different way than I did. She was like a breath of fresh air…” Chet stared into the past with a heavy heart. “I asked her to marry me.” With a frown, he remembered the rest… How James MacFadyn had discovered him in Hannah’s bed. How Chet had assured him that they planned to marry. How Carteret had insisted on proceeding with great haste and even demanded a special license. How by the time Chet had acquired it, Hannah was gone. “Carteret accepted my